An Angels Tears
by flyinpiggy18
Summary: (A DMC - Bloodrayne crossover.. sort of) Years after DMC2- Dante's son is dealing with his father's legacy, in more ways than one.
1. Prologue

_**----- A/N -**_

_**I do not own "Devil May Cry", or " Bloodrayne" nor any of their characters, so there.**_

* * *

****

-Years ago -

It wasn't usually his style, talking before a fight. But given his unusual predicament, he was far too amused to be concerned if he was losing his edge.

Staring at the expanse of white ceiling over the bed, starkness broken by a lonely ceiling fan, his mind wondered of what to say first. He wasn't making effort to seem asleep either. No need in trying to fool the thing that could see as well in the dark as he could. A cool breeze was wafting in with the aid of an open window. It crossed his mind that he should have closed it earlier, and before he could stop it, a grin was making it's way across his lips.

Dante had always been the sort to tempt fate. Or at the very least, poke fate with a fork to see if it would get mad enough to chase him. That was how the entire incident began really. While exterminating a nest of particularly nasty Childos demons, he had thought it amusing to use their one of their own demonic artifacts to destroy them, (It happened to be a nifty sword). Then he "accidentally" kept it. See, in his line of work he heard a lot of things. One of those things happened to be that the sword, aged to perfection as it was, was worth a great deal of money. It was also rumored to be a key to an alternate demon world. Not that Dante could care less about the 17th billion key he found the "Woo-ha" dimension, no, mostly he just cared that it was very large. And what boy doesn't like a large toy? Of course the last thing he had heard about this particular mission was where we get to our point.

He had heard the "Brimstone Society" was after that very sword.

Not that he had cared at the time. Keeping a secret society of weird guys in purple robes in his good graces was not top priority on this devil hunter's to-do list. Or at least, at that point it wasn't.

Moonlight was the only source of illumination in the small room. He never really realized how truly tiny his room was until then. It idly crossed his mind that he would have a hard time fighting in such an enclosed area. That was however, not the reason his blood began to pump so fiercely he realized.

No, the reason for that was draped over the ceiling fan with an inhuman grace.

He had collapsed on the mattress after a hard days work almost ten minutes ago. And much to Dante's chagrin, he almost hadn't noticed her. For some reason or another, she didn't take advantage of that. Admittedly he was tired as all hell, and he knew something that smelled like blood, (with an undertone of vanilla) was in the room. But at that point, he didn't really care what or who it was. He was shirtless, but as usual his leather pants had remained. Which of course meant he still had Ebony and Ivory strapped to either leg. Not until the moon crept an inch further down in the sky did he notice the glint off two unique eyes on the ceiling. His first reaction had been to shoot it there and see what fell to the ground, but upon actually discerning the shapes that where attached to those eyes in the dark, he found himself quite reluctant.

Light was beginning to glint off the enormous blade she had let fall from her side. She leaned forward just enough for the moonlight to dance over inhuman red hair and blood red lips framed by an ivory face.

And despite all that tension, and the fact that it was his house, she was the one to speak first. In a blur of movement she dropped from the ceiling to the tip of the bedpost.

"Shhhhhh baby… I'm good at this."


	2. The Protector

_**----A/N – I suck at writing fanfic's.**_

Oh no!

Also- I do not own "Devil May Cry", or " Bloodrayne" nor any of their characters. Don't sue me. All I own I can fit into a reasonable sized red wagon and speed away.

I did however create the main characters of this story. So uh, there.

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The feeling of rain against the side of your face, it didn't sound that beautiful.

When Ari thought of beauty her eyes craned skyward to a large "Victoria's Secret " billboard on an adjacent building top. The sun had yet to come out, but she could make out the tall, tan, thin bodies with slight curves holding up their lacy outfits with ease. She smiled. A flash of dim white on the otherwise dark ledge. They were certainly beautiful. Glowing flawless skin, small bodies, and perfect faces. Ari smoothed an untamed curl of washed out blond hair back inside her hood.

She had been leaning this corner ledge for nearly eight hours. About every 15 minutes she had to shift around on the narrow outcropping to avoid something going numb. That in mind she leaned back, re-crossing her legs. This put weight on her shoulders and right foot, the left beginning to feel like pins and needles. Idly she wondered how long those models had to stand in awkward positions, jutting out every asset they had. And were most other girls would start to compare their own bodies to the otherworldly beauties in the advertisement, Ari envied them for completely different reasons.

After one snap of the camera, they were allowed to move. And at this point in the morning, nothing seemed so sweet as movement. Even though she had the ability to become still like no other living being could, the conflicting parts of her nature rarely allowed it. Her back muscles were beginning to cramp something awful. Screaming for something to do, her own body was beginning to annoy her. Re-adjusting her basic position wasn't going to help that. While most people at that height would be very content to stick to the wall and let numbness set in, Ari was itching to do a headstand. Something to get the blood pumping. Anything. Slowly, she allowed movement to her hands, and only because the sleeves of an oversized leather jacket covered them. The drumming of her fingers was beginning to match the sound of the raindrops against her hood. Rain drops which seemed to be letting up as a matter of fact. Not that the rain letting up meant anything particularly special, she still had to keep the hood up. It was the thing keeping her otherwise painfully pale self hidden in the shadows were the building walls met up. And the activities of the night involved her not being seen, unless needed. So she resigned herself to the dark corner. With her entire back against the concrete of the building, she could feel the beat of something completely different than rain.

There was a party downstairs.

Very downstairs as a matter of fact. Like under the basement of the building. And judging from the slowing of the beat, it seemed like the night was coming to a close. Ari's eye's closed while the overwhelming feeling of '_thank fucking god_' set in.

Her small vantage point was the best place to keep herself out of sight, and simultaneously keep an eye on the only entrance to the "club" under the ground. The building was shaped like an "L", and the shorter side had four dumpsters along the wall. There began a rumbling at her back, and the lids below began to rattle as no doubt the party-goers were saying their goodbyes.

Very slowly, but surely, an awful screeching noise was building. The dumpster second from the left was moving out from the wall. The sound was annoying no matter how fast or slow you tried to do it, like opening a bag of snacks in a quiet theater. Everything in Ari's body was beginning to tense with anticipation, whilst an unsettling smile emerged on her tired face..

The large pinkish grey Dicon demons began to emerge from a hole the dumpster had been covering. The burly gorilla-esque creatures were exiting their below ground club in droves, moving with an impressive amount of speed for demons that looked to be more fat than muscle. At least the majority seemed portly, there were two on either side of the hole who were distinctly larger with a better build than the rest. Ari could recall from the previous meeting with the esteemed clan leader that those two were some sort of bodyguards. Apparently this bunch only had the two, even though it appeared to be a large group. So upon discovering the human who owned the land this particular section of abandoned office buildings was on had taken out an extermination contract on them, the leader was understandably more than worried. It was random chance that Ari had stumbled upon the situation. Well, not so random. The Dicons had actually been quite aware of a demonic presence near their home. That presence of course was her, and representative of the clan actually had come to warn the young girl of a possible threat to her if the demons had to defend themselves. She was struck with the gesture, finding it more than generous. At a whim she had actually tracked down the leader of the clan deep in the sewers and offered her protection. Which of course had only made the oversized vaguely man-shaped creature laugh, or do something she thought may have been laughter ( it was sort of hard to tell with their voices). That was until she gave a small demonstration of her capabilities.

Capabilities that had been useless for the better part of her night. Unless of course you counted her non-existent fear of heights, ability to go without sleep, or the fact that between her more than human hearing and sight she could discern everything that was happening on the ground below. She could even hear one of the few demons making the short trip from one hole to the other sneeze. It played in her mind that it was slightly amusing that they exited one hole in the ground only to use a oversized manhole in to get back to the sewer system. _'Maybe, "demonhole". Naw, that just lends itself to too many jokes, ok, well, so does manhole.' _

What felt like very suddenly to her wandering mind, the only two demons above ground were the bodyguards. They seemed to scan the sky for her, but quickly gave up, following the rest of their people. Ari continued to wait, knowing through some very productive/amusing torture sessions with people "in the know," that the contract expired at dawn. Dawn which was of course fast approaching. That in mind, and with her right foot starting to go pretty numb, she knelt down to rest on her heels. A contract this lucrative would probably only be offered to about three people, and she was using the term "people" quite loosely. Although Dicons were pretty slow, if you gave them time to group up, they became a formidable foe. And considering how many of them there were, that seemed to be a very legitimate risk. However since the hit man/ woman / thing had yet to show, it was beginning to make Ari suspect the contract had been picked up by the busiest of the three hired hands.And if she was right, he wouldn't have any problem dispatching of them. Not that it was that motivating her decision to lend a helping hand to the Dicon's. She had hoped that "Devil Never Cry" would be the one to get the call for personal reasons.

A ray of sunshine hit her eyes quite unexpectedly, causing her to curse.

Daylight.

Grimacing, Ari felt sort of like she'd been stood up. In a swift motion hopping up from her perch, she stretched for all she was worth. Arms above her head, letting the hood fall from her face. In turn inviting the large curls she had set her hair in earlier to play across her face. That actually being the secondary reason to keeping herself tucked away inside the leather getup. Her hair was anything but naturally curly. However the change made her otherwise long hair seem significantly shorter, and that was all she really needed to get through the day.

Her hands began to absentmindedly run over said curls. Seeing if they had made it though the night, not getting too flat or frizzy. Unbuttoning her coat to expose the uniform pedophile attracting skirt and shirt combo of " Our Lady of Perpetual Peace", she hoped at least the day would prove to be more fruitful.

No sooner had she started to hope than she heard it.

_"_**HHHHHHUUUURRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW**"

Was that what she prayed it was? Dicon's had painfully low voices, it very well may have been a scream. Crossing her fingers and reaching inside her jacket to the small of her back, she pulled out a custom made small shotgun. Her face was curling into a catlike smile as she leapt from the ledge with similar feline grace. The manhole which would have taken any other mortal at least crowbar and two other people she removed with only her free hand, tossing it to the side of the street.

Mere moments later she was stalking quickly through the murky tunnels, effortlessly soundless. Before, having to rely on patience, she was slightly out of her element. But this, jumping head first into the wolves den, she was familiar with this. And unbeknownst to her, beauty came from confidence like that. Beauty like deadly nightshade, but beauty nonetheless.


	3. The Hunter

---**_A/N - P-nut butter, strawberry jelly and chocolate frosting sandwiches rock. Especially if you haven't slept all night. I highly suggest you try it. .... Now. _**

(I need sleep)

(P.S. I do not own "Devil May Cry" or any of it's characters. Meh.)

Ouch ,sorry. I didn't know what to name the boy. How do you name the son of Dante? Yeah, nothing would be as good as Dante.... So I stuck with the first thing that popped in my little brain.

(So little)

((P.P.S... Some names are similar, I just thought it would be cute. :) ))

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In Aries opinion, there was nothing quite as depressing as getting used to it.

Of course he knew it was like in a sewer. It was dark. Well, more like, pitch black.

Pitch black, with smells so awful and strong they were almost tangible, where no amount of scrubbing would let you feel clean enough to eat from your own hands again. But that wasn't the depressing part really. He could identify each ungodly stench's source, he was able to see the amounts of only-god-knows-what turned into sludge at his boots even in the dark, and his keen senses, which he had cursed at many a time like this, were telling him that he needed to go deeper into the tunnel.

He was marching forward, face blank. Not that it wasn't disturbing him. His own mind was cursing him for taking the damn job, he knew what to expect when a demon's description read, "likes cool, underground, moist places." It meant at some point he'd be tracking something in a goddamn sewer, which meant he was going to get shit on his clothes. Literally.

He had three "appointments" that night. Logically he arranged the three best to worst. Logically to him at least. While others might argue that it would have been more intelligent to have the hardest battle first, then easier as the night went on and as he got more tired. However, no one had ever questioned his demon fighting logic. Ever.

The depressing part was that before he left on the job, Aries had made sure there were 2 bottles of anti-bacterial soap, and a full container of "Lysol" by the shower. He had made sure he was prepared.

Because he was so goddamn used to it.

At other times it struck him as depressing that if someone was talking too long, or about something too boring, or sometimes in general, he caught himself reaching for a gun. Or if some moron cut him off in traffic he fought the urge to get out of the car at the next stop light and crush the offending motorist to death in their own car. Or sometimes he had vivid fantasies about what it could be like to rip people limb from limb, because, well that would look sort of neat.

All in all, it was beginning to unnerve him.

His life should probably bother him more.

His pace wasn't exactly quick, although the young devil hunter did had a job to do. His somber mood causing him to move a bit slower than usual. Only when there seemed to be a light on the horizon did he pick up the pace.

That light turned out to be the lighter color of actual laid concrete, semi-new. It was sort of a small concrete arena, with new aromas to be concerned with. Namely, those of the demon clan who was last on his dance card tonight. Three metal doors were on the upper ledge.

An exhausted smile crossed Aries face, as he played a game of eeny- meanie- miney- moe in his head.

"**Betterrrr to be goin' boy...."** A low, guttural voice behind him commanded.

"_Shhhh,_" He whispered back. "I'm thinking." At that he made absolutely no point to move, and started to stroke an imaginary beard.

The Dicon demon let out a slow snarl. "**Not ferrr long.**"

Aries rolled to the side just in time to avoid a fist the size of a turkey going through his head. Jumping up he had already drawn his handguns, and had them trained on the two demons intent on not letting him past any of the doors. Judging by their size, they were probably guards for the rest of the troop.

Aries genuinely smiled, and fired. The sound was almost deafening in the round room. The two demons that had been barreling towards him only slowed within a foot. One toppled over, it's head decapitated by gunfire. The other took one step closer, then collapsed. Choking on it's own blood.  
"You were right, not for long." Holstering his guns, he went back to the door game. While two of them looked frequently used, the third looked like it had fresh dent marks.

"Lucky door number three I guess."

Before he could pry the door open, his attention was turned backwards.

"**HHHHHHUUUURRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW**"

The other demon wasn't quite dead. Aries cursed, and in the blink of an eye used his sword to decapitate the alarm causing demon.

How could he have been so careless? Now the others were probably running for their lives. Not that he couldn't catch them of course, but it would make his already long night, well, longer. Risking a glance at his watch (which was now soaked in grey Dicon blood among other things), he had reason to curse some more. The night was done, and he was working on morning . There were two good reasons he didn't work during the day. One being demons are a hell of a lot harder to find in the daylight hours, and the second was that more than half of his contracts were timed. Granted as long as you got the job done, some clients didn't care if he took a bit longer. But usually if they were anal retentive enough to give you a time limit, they meant it. As much as he wanted to be in this for all the right reasons, such as the family business, protecting the weak, and all that, he was in it for the money.

Running a hand through his feather white hair, he thought on that. 'Why did my father start this?' He was never really given a story of his father that didn't conflict with someone else's. Aries had only talked to his own father a handful of times himself, and back then he couldn't have cared to ask why his father was always off fighting the big bad. Of course it wasn't like he didn't constantly have to hear about the legacy he had to fulfill now that he was older. According to his mother, Dante had down everything to protect the humans. According to most demons he heard from, he did it to satisfy his own bloodlust. Looking in a stray puddle, he sighed. He didn't even look much like his famous father. His skin was a dark tan naturally, and instead of the famed blue eyes, he had grey. If it wasn't for his hair, Aries might not have believed it. When he was younger he figured he had his mother to thank for his super natural powers. However his mother, Lucia, never let him forget for one second he was the son of Dante the demon hunter. As much as he did love and respect his dear mother, he really was tired of all the, "living up to someone else" bullshit.

As the puddle he was looking in filled with stray blood from the headless Dicon demons, Aries reminded himself he had a job to do.

Making his way slowly towards the door, he paused. Did he just hear something? A moment passed. He didn't hear anything else, so he knelt to pry the door open.

No sooner did he wedge his fingers under the large iron door, than it slid upwards. The sound of metal being forced upward when it didn't want too was pretty unpleasant, but not as unpleasant as what he encountered next. Aries didn't have time to draw his guns before it hit him in the chest.


	4. A Little blood spatter

**------------------A/N - When I sit on my foot for too long, it goes numb.   
  
This and other thoughts brought to you by- insomnia and A.D.D.  
  
I promise I'll go back and fix this, I write everything at 4 am, and then wonder what the hell I was thinking later.   
  
(P.S. I still do not own "Devil May Cry" "Bloodrayne" or any of their characters. Meh.)  
  
(P.P.S. - Haha, yeah, I made Lucia his mother. Why? Because the whole Trish reincarnated mother thing creeped me out. )  
  
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He barely made out a human shaped bullet, hitting him feet first. He, she, or it was moving so fast that Aries couldn't focus. Whatever it was, it was twisting in the air, a living projectile.   
  
"Fuck!" Aries spat out, thankful he had remained upright. Upon seeing it land, he stopped reaching for his handguns. He'd seen this thing twice before, and the outcome never left him covered in glory. It was fast enough to avoid individual bullets. Landing in a flash of black leather and light hair, it pushed off from the ground quickly enough to only see a blur. Drawing his sword he waited for the next impact. Once while swinging widely he had managed to cut it. Words couldn't describe how happy he was to see that it bled.  
  
Holding the sword at an angle, Aries felt a rush of wind telling him it had circled to his back. Not that knowing that could protect him. A sharp, fiery pain told him he'd been stabbed in the shoulder. Not too deep, but enough to be annoying.   
  
In a fury of circles and jumps it managed to stab him once more, and give him a nasty gash on the cheek. At that point, Aries was tired of playing games.  
  
His eyes grew hazy with an purple-red glow. The devil trigger was just that, a trigger. Aries was pissed off enough to be close to changing, but just as the fight may have evened out, his opponent seemed to back off. It suddenly jumped into a corner obscured by shadow and clung to the ceiling.  
  
"Scared?" Aries mocked, the red halo was just beginning to envelope his body.   
  
He was a little taken aback when he heard it laugh. The laugh was condescending, and most defiantly female. Suddenly a small blast through his chest rocked him backwards. It was a small gun, and at this point, anything that wasn't killing him was just making him stronger.  
  
"Of you ? Tell me another one."  
  
She came at Aries in another cannon roll, but as his devil powers took over he was able to jump to the side. She skidded, a mass of blonde hair, some white and a black skirt was all he could make out. However this time he had his sword in the right place, and swung it down over her neck in the middle of her skid. The girl didn't have time to avoid the sword, but she did catch it before cut her head off. Splitting open her hand, she screamed. Before Aries could even process the pleasure of finally causing her some pain, the girl shot up like a viper, striking his sword arm. She bit him? Who the fuck bites.... uh, oh, vampires? Aries only caught the blurry image of an emerald green eye. Her hand which was still split open tightened and flung Aries' sword to the other side of the arena. Swearing quite understandably, Aries grabbed a handful of her hair and tossed the girl like a rag doll into the wall.   
  
Jumping to recollect the sword Aries put his back to the wall and held his hurt arm to his chest. But as he stood ready for another round, he realized as quickly as the fight had started, it was over. The girl was gone, with no explanation, and no resolution.  
  
_---The Next Day ----_  
  
"So you lost the $50,000 Dicon demons."   
  
Aries sighed. "Yeah."  
  
"Dicon, possibly one of the slowest creatures ever, you lost. You, an accomplished devil hunter, couldn't bring me more than two. The two that found you, if I'm hearing you correctly."  
  
He didn't say anything, just bided his time by getting increasingly annoyed.  
  
"And then you get your ass kicked. By a girl. A girl that apparently has done it twice before, and has cost us three very lucrative contracts now."  
  
The lecture was being given by Owen, Aries long time friend. Sitting behind the desk at "Devil Never Cry" and giving the more than half demon, 6'4", 19 year old Aries this lecture, you'd think he was more than human. You'd be wrong though. Owen was only a little over 5'5", with soft, wavy brown hair, endearing glasses, and very much human. He might have whimpered when he heard mice, and he constantly had horrible head colds, but he was wonderful at keeping books.   
  
"Maybe he likes her......" Came a wispy voice from the back.  
  
"Shut up May." Aries growled. May was Owen's younger cousin. (While Aries and Owen were 19, May was 17.) She giggled and ran to the back of the wooden building. Her highlighted brown hair flowing her in waves behind her. In the beginning, after their family had been slaughtered by demons, Aries let his friend stay on and help the business. Lucia had worked tirelessly to keep "Devil Never Cry" open after his father had all but vanished eight years ago. After Aries took over, it became a split operation. May took care of the weapons and cataloging, Owen did booking and accounting, and that earned them their keep. Which of course left Aries to.... kill stuff.  
  
Mays' sing-song voice rang out from the back. "_Aries is in looooove! Aries is in loooooooove!"_  
  
Usually he would have shrugged it off, but something about that girl made May's chanting turn his stomach. It wasn't even that he still hadn't clearly seen her face, or that she beat him up several times. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.   
  
"Are you even listening?" Owen demanded.  
  
"Ummmmm... honestly? No."  
  
Owen sighed and rubbed his temples. "I can't believe you man. It was a freaking vampire. Since when are vampires trouble for anyone besides lonely defenseless people on streetcorners?"  
  
Aries got up, obviously done with the lecture. "If it was a vampire, why was it out after sunrise?"  
  
That did shut Owen up. Not about the money they had lost, but about the girl. Which was just as well, because Aries wanted to forget the entire incident. 


	5. Did anyone pay the phone bill?

  
  
---------- _**A/N – I do not own "Devil May Cry" or any of it's characters. Don't sue me. I just ate all of my worldly goods. (3 jelly beans)  
  
Need an activity today? Try this.   
  
-Go to your local supermarket, convenience store, K-Mart, Meijers or what not-- wearing a ski mask.   
  
-Buy a very inexpensive item   
  
-Pay with a very large bill  
  
- As clerk is counting out your change shout, "JUST GIVE ME THE MONEY!!"  
  
-Run from store**_  
  
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May still won't talk about the day her parents died. Owen found her in the bathtub, drenched in blood, rocking back and fourth. They had seen Prowlers, dog like, flesh eating demons in the area months before. Still, her parents refused to leave the house that had been in their family for generations. It had cost them their lives.   
  
However for the most part May was a terribly upbeat kid. Very terribly, in Aries opinion.   
  
"Pink or heather grey?" May shouted from her make shift room in the back of "Devil Never Cry".  
  
"Umm, whatever is faster?"   
  
"Jeez, you're no freaking help." She pouted jogging to the door in a grey jacket.   
  
Aries shrugged and ushered her out the front. They were already late. That however, didn't stop May from staring into her reflection for another minute flicking invisible fuzz off her black plaid skirt.  
  
"Think this looks alright?" she spun for the full effect. Aries who was still holding open the door in an effort to speed her along, just rolled his eyes. It was no secret young May had a crush on the resident demon hunter. Who wouldn't? Over six feet tall, dark, brooding. Made an absurd amount of money, (when he could find work that is), exotic white hair which was even softer than it looked. He also had that wonderful badass quality going for him. And being about 3/4 demon, he had the bite to back up his rather sarcastic bark.  
  
And with those keen demon senses he could even discern that May wasn't going to move an inch if he didn't comment on her outfit.  
  
"Um, Sweetheart, it's a uniform. You look the same as you always do." May huffed and tossed her long brown hair, (which she spent an extra hour on this morning). Aries just smiled at getting her out of the door.   
  
The cavernous black S.U.V. Which was usually filled with May's incessant chatter on mornings like this went quiet and hollow in her bad mood. Aries of course didn't make any attempt at livening things up. She sat slumped over in annoyance, carefully avoiding eye contact with him.   
  
Our Lady of Perpetual Peace was their destination. The all girls prep school May attended. It was a good 45 minute drive from "Devil Never Cry" which was located in a shadier part of the town. Not that May ever told her classmates that. According to her, she lived two towns over in a much nicer area. No one ever believed her of course, if she lived over there she'd be attending a much more prestigious school. That didn't stop he from telling the story though. She did however have a few good friends at her school. And just as good friends do, they were waiting for her on the corner two blocks from the school entrance. When Owen dropped her off she usually had to beg them to meet her there, so she'd have and excuse to ditch her dorky cousin before she was seen in public with him. And on the rare days when Aries dropped her off she'd usually wave to her quite envious friends and get dropped off at the front gate. But today in her sour mood she announced that she could get off at the corner and be fine.   
  
May jumped out of the car on that corner without so much as look back. Aries, a bit thankful for that small mercy, put his head against the wheel. Teen angst was just to much crap to put up with at 7 am.   
  
Head down, his mind drifted. Had to pick up May at 4:30, had to get a new sharpening stone, needed milk, had to meet the clients for his new account, and he was pretty sure no one paid the phone bill. His head didn't move. Did his dad ever have to do this stuff? Dante, the legendary demon slayer, son of Sparda the demon savior? He couldn't imagine the pale, towering, fearsome man going to 7-11 on a milk run. The last time he had seen his father was 7 years ago. At 12, he had only seen his father twice before, and each time he couldn't recognize him. The last visit was no different.   
  
At that time it was only himself and his mother running "Devil Never Cry". Lucia didn't command the same physical presence as Dante. Nonetheless, the minute the door burst open that night, she was front and center with her sickle blades. Aries only remembered pieces of that night. How happy his mother was to see his father. He was soaked from the downpour that night and he looked scared. Even at that young age, Aries realized how distant Dante was. Almost like he didn't want to touch Aries. Not that he ever made an attempt to impress his father when he was there, but something was different that time. Something was wrong. Later that night he heard shouting from his parents room. His mother was screaming rapidly in french, which she never taught him. And whatever happened, he was gone the next day. The day after that was the first time he realized something was wrong with his mother's health. Aries always figured whatever went on that night took the last of her fighting strength. He had always blamed his father for his mothers death. Maybe, maybe if he would have come back, maybe that would have convinced her to hold on.  
  
He might have dozed off. Or maybe he was just deep in thought, because when Aries looked at the clock it was suddenly 7:59.   
  
"Damn" he whispered, and put the car into drive. The block was oddly arranged in one way streets, so he'd actually have to pass the school on his way back home. The red brick of the school came into full view soon, along with the sculptures of weeping angels. It always struck Aries that the ambiance of the school was rather off-putting. High brick walls, morbid statues and paintings, and best of all, drab uniforms. That however, was not what caught his attention this time. Passing along the outside of the school, waiting for other cars to move along from dropping off their children, he saw something very familiar.   
  
Only a handful of students were going in now, as the first bell had already rung. Only one caught Aries eye though. She was tall and deathly pale, moving quickly along the cobblestone path to the double doors of the school. Her shoulder length blonde hair was whipping back and forth in the morning wind.   
  
In his mind's eye he flashed back to the arena the night before. Aries was positive it was the same whiplash blonde hair that had been causing him so much trouble.   
  
His mind drifted to blank in an instant. He had gone from thinking about milk, to reminiscing, to that beautiful white space his mind went to when he was about to kill. Aries was that angry. He was sure it was the same bitch that cost him a lease payment in contracts, and he was sure she was a devil of some sort. And that he knew how to deal with.   
  
He hunted devils.

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Walking into the large hall that followed the entrance of the school, Aries was hit by an almost defining silence. A painful sort of white noise only broken by his footsteps, which had died almost three feet into the building. He was the only dark spot in the otherwise lightly colored off white entryway. The only visible people were two rather large women at the reception desk. Both of their fish like mouths had gaped open upon seeing him. One was holding a phone and seemed like she was in the motion to call someone, but she slowly lowered the receiver.  
  
"Can I help you sir?"  
  
Missing only a beat Aries flashed a brilliant smile that seemed to disarm the two obese women. Moving quickly to conceal the handgun he had been going for a second earlier, he approached the desk and tried to get his thoughts in order.  
  
" Hi there, " his eyes barely dashed down to take a quick look at the name printed proudly on the phone at her desk, amid something that looked like an extensive treasure troll collection, "Florence. I'm here picking up my niece, she didn't feel well this morning and just called, I guess she decided she didn't want to try and make it through the day."  
  
The big woman perked up. "Ohhh well, you know kids these days."  
  
Keeping up the fake smile was starting to hurt his face something awful. "Oh my yes, so I was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of the attendance office."  
  
Florence practically scrambled out of her swivel chair. " Why of course! It's just down the hall here— well, why don't I walk you down, I have all this paper work to drop off anyway." The other woman behind the desk made no effort to conceal rolling her eyes.   
  
Walking behind her just a step, Aries was reminded slightly of a wiggly "jell-o" mold. And at that point he made a mental note that he could never eat jell-o again. The poor woman was blathering on endlessly about what could have been something like copper piping for all he knew. To his delight they quickly reached a circular office that protruded a bit from the rest of the hallway. She turned, possibly to explain the amenities of the office, or more about copper piping. He really didn't care. Only because like most humans, when she turned her focus, she blinked. He thanked the powers that be for small mercies, because he really didn't like to do things that were to demon-y with anyone watching. It was all about timing really. A split second to see no one looking out the office door, a tiny door stop keeping it partially open, Florence turning her head, and then, blink. He was gone. Poor Florence. Inside the office he didn't smile, although playing tricks regular people didn't get usually brightened up his day, he didn't have time for it. Few people seemed interested in someone new in the room, even though he quite clearly didn't belong to the school. That slightly disturbed him. But not as much as what he heard next.  
  
"Oh my god May, isn't that your cousin's hot friend?"  
  
Aries winced and turned around. May and a group of her giggling friends were directly behind him. The smell of overdone teenaged girl perfume was wafting off the building like toxic fumes, no wonder hadn't picked up May was in there. Her face was frozen in abject horror, but only for a second. She dashed toward him and grabbed his sleeve, hissing something to the effect of "what in the hell are you doing here?" He just smiled and winked at her group of friends. He could have sworn he heard them all sigh in unison. That was terribly amusing.   
  
"Aries!" May hissed again. He was still smiling though.   
  
"Here on business, and why aren't you in class?"  
  
Her face twisted into confusion, but went back to pissed. "What the fuck? Your 'business' isn't in my school!"  
  
The sides of his mouth were beginning to hurt, and he dropped the smile. " I beg to differ Princess, that blonde girl, the one from last night, I saw her come in after dropping you off."  
  
May's mouth gaped. "What kind of moron are you?!? This is an all girls preppy school, every other fucking girl is a peroxide blonde! You never even saw her face!"  
  
Well if you put it that way, yes he did feel like an asshole. Sort of. But he was so sure it was the same girl...   
  
"So... so what? " May kept going, " you were going to come in here to ...? to track her? What were you going to behead her in the cafeteria? What?!?!" Her face was beginning to get a little red. All he could do was sigh.  
  
"Look I don't know, I just, I though I should look into it ok? What if she's dangerous?" Yeah, that excuse was totally lame. He was just feeling so off. He usually wasn't wrong about this stuff... and he defiantly wouldn't behead someone in the cafeteria. That would be unsanitary. Maybe in the gym... hardwood floors, easy cleanup.....  
  
"Aries! Have you gone mental? I know you're in a bad mood since we're losing so much money, but this is freaking ridiculous!" She snapped.  
  
"Uh, what?" The girl looked like she was going to explode. "GO HOME." She hissed.   
  
"Fine." He muttered, " but I'm telling your brother you're skipping class." 


	6. Life at home is like a fairy tale

------- _**A/N -   
  
- I do not own Devil May Cry- don't sue me.   
  
- I also like "Star Trek"!**_  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
– 13 years ago–  
  
"Mom?"  
  
Only 2 candles illuminated the entire room. Ari was sure her mother had only done it for her sake. After all, she could see in the dark, not only that, but she could see the blood pumping in your veins. But Ari needed light to see still, and it was only that way that she did plainly see blood, pumping straight out of her mothers veins. Not only that, but something was glinting in the light.   
  
Being only 5, it never struck Ari that it was odd that her mother looked to be bleeding to death on the kitchen floor. Or that this was a regular occurrence in her house. Nor did it strike her as odd that she knew that her mother had returned by the smell of her blood. Not that it was a disturbing smell at all, it just meant her mother was done with work.  
  
Ari gathered up her blanket, which she had dragged from her own room, and scrambled on to a chair at the kitchen's table " I saw a bat at the zoo today!" she stated proudly.  
  
Her mothers horse chuckle was cut short by a hiss. A silver cross was embedded into her stomach, and weather it was the fact that it was silver, or that is had obviously been filled with holy water which it was now leaking, she wasn't sure, but she was having a very hard time pulling it out. She had tried in vain to wedge it out with her scissor blades so she didn't have to touch it, but nothing was working.   
  
"Yeah it was like, really big," Ari held out her arms to illustrate. "And dad said it was like a vampire bat, and it like, sucks people's blood."   
  
Her mother let out a scoff. "Oh, that's cute, did he show you any of the other animals or just that one?"  
  
Ari smiled, "Oh we saw everything! But he told me to tell you about the bat, he said you'd like it. I got some cotton candy"   
  
"Truly, to cute. " She sighed. "I didn't know you were going out with him today."  
  
Pulling her blanket over her head , Ari spoke. She didn't like that her parents fought so often. "Yeah... he said he was going to be in town... fer a while... we're supposed to get lunch tomorrow.. I mean if it' s ok..."  
  
Slowly her mother stood, blood was pouring down the inside and the outside of her leather corset. Ari was completely unaware of the danger her mother was in, and not just because she had a blanket on her head. As far as Ari was concerned, she thought her mother was invincible. For whenever she scraped her knee she would cry, but her mother bled all the time, and never cried. Ari would always watch in wonder as her mothers skin closed it's wounds by itself.   
  
"Come out of there you wussy, " her mother cooed gently pulling the blanket off Ari's head. The little girl was all smiles, and what parent could resist that? "It's fine with me, you just tell your dad to make sure I know where you're going so I don't come home and find my little girl gone. I might just have to murder him if that happened."  
  
Ari jumped off the chair to grab her mother's waist, and she held on for all she was worth. "No!! No Mommy! Please don't!"   
  
She stroked her daughter's pale hair and laid a kiss on her forehead. "I'm only teasing, now, who wants to see if they can pull out this cross?"   
  
Ari lifted her head, confused. "You can get it out?"  
  
Her mother smiled, "Mmm hum, you know how I said you and me are kind of different," She waited for a head bob to signify her daughter did in fact remember that discussion, "well the same blood that makes mommy so strong, makes me weak against other things. Like, " she pointed, " this cross."  
  
"So..." Ari seemed confused, " I can pull it out?"   
  
"Maybe, it's hard to explain, but it might you less. Here, " She touched her daughter's hand, and took a moment to stare into her deep green eyes, so full of trust. Eye's that years ago would have been a mirror reflection of her own. " You know what Sweetie, never mind. I can do it..... Just do me a favor and promise to be prepared if you fight possessed priests."  
  
Ari's eyes' sunk, "I can do it! I can do it! It won't hurt! "  
  
Her mother smiled and slumped back to the floor. " I know Sweetie, it probably won't. You're a strong little girl. I'm very proud of you." She whispered, squeezing her daughters hand.  
  
"Or, " came a deeper voice from the hallway, " you could stop trying to be such a hard ass and ask for help from someone else."  
  
"Daddy!" Ari let go of her mother's hand, but suddenly paused, unsure of which parent to stand by.   
  
The towering figure walked slowly into the kitchen, his head to the side. "Looks like a grappling hook And soaked in holy water?. That's craftsmanship." He paused, and then knelt. " Hey Ari," He whispered, " Why don't you go grab that book I bought you today to show your mom."  
  
The small girl anxiously nodded her head and ran to her room. Digging through all piles of clothes, she heard her mother scream. Not just run of the mill screaming, blood curdling. Her little heart raced, she wasn't used to screams. Fearful, she ran back to the kitchen.  
  
Lighting up a cigar, she saw her father at the table. Her mother was still on the floor, the cross gone, along with a good chunk of her side.   
  
"Mom?" Ari whimpered. She was squirming on the floor and cursing.  
  
Ari felt her father move from the table, he knelt down and picked up her still cursing mother.   
  
"Arcadia, sweetheart, I've got to take your mother to get something to eat. Go to bed, it's too late for you to be up. We'll be back in a minute."  
  
She padded after her father, "But..." The small girls' voice was barely audible over the soft click of the door.  
  
Ari didn't like to be left alone. 


	7. He's sooooo hot

------- _**A/N - Anyone seen the DMC 3 preview? And how hot it is? Very hot. So very, very hot.   
  
- Don't own DMC- in anyway, shape or form.   
  
- I like jelly!  
**_  
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---_Later that day_----  
  
"Ohmigod! He was like, 7 feet tall! I bet you he can like, bench press a truck."  
  
May coughed up a bit of her sandwich. "Yeah. Something like that. "  
  
Her friend Jessica was just to the right of her on the picnic table. She had a round face, red hair, freckles, and was eating a disgusting tuna fish creation. Telling the truth, May rather disliked her. However, there were a few advantages to being Jessica's friend. She had somehow gotten a hold of the teachers 'School Related Absence' slips, the ones they use if you'll be missing your other classes to help with a school event or the like. So, as far as the office knew, May and her friends were decorating the school for the art festival on the weekend. And it was a beautiful day to be "decorating for the art festival". Not a cloud in the sky, warm enough to go without a jacket, and a slight breeze making sure that it never got too warm. May only knew two of the five girls she was with, but didn't really care. The last week at home had stressed her out enough that she'd take any excuse she could take for a bit of fun. The group had spent a good part of the morning trying to find a car, and or, cab money between them. Several arguments and two trips to an ATM later they were lounging in a delightful little park 3 blocks from their school. Enjoying lunch from a small sandwich shop they had passed, the topic of conversation seemed to be the only thing May didn't want to think about.   
  
A girl who's name May could have sworn was Rachel, or Rochelle, or... Sue, spoke up." God, did you see the way he winked at us? A total affirmation of his own hotness. Nobody should be able to pull off winking. But he did, he did , and it was gorgeous. "   
  
The other girls nodded in agreement. Another one piped up, " So like, you live with him?"  
  
May sighed with obvious annoyance. "YES. One big house, and to answer the rest of your questions, NO he doesn't have a girlfriend, at least.. I don't think he does, NO I've never seen him naked, and if you call my house NO, he won't talk to you. "  
  
The gaggle of girls seemed a little depressed at that and got quieter. Except Jessica, who started to giggle to herself a bit.   
  
May sighed. "What?"  
  
The red head smiled back. " I bet you he's got a huge –"  
  
"**WELL,** if we're all done with the amazing May's roommate story, I'm off. Not that the day of truancy hasn't been fun though. " The blonde to May's right hopped off the table and grabbed her bag.   
  
May jumped off the table after her. "No way Ena! "  
  
The other girl just smiled, "C'mon May, you know I hang out with Cadi on Tuesdays. "   
  
May smiled sorrowfully. "How is she?"  
  
The girl smiled, " Jeez, it's not like she's dead. Just expelled! Two very different things, I promise you."  
  
"Well I mean," May struggled to find the words, "not to put to fine a point on it, but wasn't your mom mad? I mean, she set a wing of the school on fire."  
  
"Hey now!" Ena seemed taken aback., " it was never conclusively proven Cadi did that! And it was only the gym ... and a connecting hallway...."  
  
May backed off, hands up. "Ok... ."   
  
The girl gave a final wave and ran towards the exit of the park.   
  
Jessica trotted up to May. "Hey, I think we're going to get ice cream do you- hey, where's Ena going? "  
  
May shrugged. "To see Cadi I guess."  
  
"Jesus they're weird. "  
  
"Yeah I guess." May nodded. "You get the impression Cadi wasn't allowed to come home? "  
  
Jessica scoffed. "May, sweetheart. She's a psycho. She tried to burn down half the school with herself in it. I wouldn't let her live in my house either. She might try and take the rest of the family with her next time she gets all suicidal. I mean, and think how hard she's gonna have to try next time. I mean she got out of that fire without a scratch."  
  
May and Jessica turned around to face the rest of their friends still at the table, Jessica putting her arm around May.  
  
"Look I know you're sort of depressed, Ena's been real weird to everyone since... well then. And I know you guys were real close, but it's not like you don't have the rest of us."  
  
May sighed, "Yeah, yeah you're right, I just.... wait a second, what did you just say?"  
  
"Um, you have us as friends too?"  
  
May threw off her arm, "No you moron before that! She didn't get hurt in the fire?"  
  
Jessica's eye's widened. "Yeah, the way the gym caved in I guess there was like a pocket or something where she couldn't get hurt. "  
  
May's heart began to beat a little faster. "Jess, I saw the school later that night, it was leveled. Like she used explosives or something. I thought they took her to a hospital?!"  
  
"Um, " Jessica was starting to inch away from May a bit. " yeah, a crazy hospital. What's with you all of a sudden?"  
  
"Uh, I just, I was just thinking, " but she stopped half way through the sentence. "You know what? Nothing, I thought something, but I can't be right. What about that ice cream now?"


	8. Enter the Twins

------_**A/N -  
  
- Don't own Devil May Cry- don't sue me, I just spent all my money on so diet iced tea. Mmmm... that's "BRISK" baby. (No, it's not, I'm sorry for falsely stating it was)  
**_  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
_'Three doors to the left?_' she asked herself. Sighing she tried it, and got lucky. All the abandoned buildings looked the same in this part of town. But upon having to shove open the door due to built up pizza boxes and several half drank 2 liters of "Diet Pepsi", she knew her sister must be in this one.   
  
The girl sagged and dropped to the floor. Both parties seemed to sigh a little bit. The floor was old, and Ena, well Ena was just exhausted. Sadly, it was only after she hit the floor that Ena realized about 90% of what she thought was carpet turned out to be dust.   
  
"_Mother fucker..."_ She whispered, but didn't bother to get up. The damage was done, she'd defiantly have to wash her uniform tonight.  
  
"Pray tell, is my beautiful sister home?" An overly sweet voice came from what passed for a bathroom.   
  
Ena sighed. "Why does this shit hole have to be your home? You make enough to get an actual apartment you know." Ena paused, "And what in the hell is that smell? Did you dye your hair again?"  
  
"Oh yeah. This crap is like 10 for a dollar! Besides, for reasons beyond me, the plumbing still works here, so I'm all about staying. Free is free." As if to illustrate her point she turned on and off the faucet.   
  
Ena peered a glance at her own hair, which was must nicer than her sisters if she had to compare. Sadly though, they were both basically the same. Except Ena never let her roots show. Score one for her. And her's stayed in longer than a day. Score two. The floor creeks and continuos humming of what Ena guessed was the "Buffy" theme signaled her sister was out of the bathroom, and by the pace of it, seemed to be in a hurry.  
  
"You know, all that one wash dye is probably screwing up your hair."   
  
She heard a chuckle. "Ena, honey-muffin, hair is already dead. I don't really care. Hell, I might even let it go back to natural, you know? I mean, we just dyed it for school."  
  
There weren't any lights in the building, since of course there was no electricity, but Ena didn't need them. She saw the girl just fine. She looked to be prancing merrily in the darkest bit the room, past some dusty old cubicals. "Is that a new coat?" Ena whispered, rubbing her temples.   
  
"Dust in here giving you a headache?" She called out, being needlessly loud. Ena could have heard her drop a pin from that distance. Her sister came skipping over quite quickly to kneel by her side.   
  
"Poor baby, " She breathed giving Ena a little kiss on the forehead.   
  
Ena just swatted at her. "What is with you? Do you have a date or something?"  
  
She smiled. "Oh yeah, I didn't tell you?"  
  
Ena gasped. "No way, you're joking right? "  
  
Her smile got wider. "A date with... destiny!" At that she sprang up giggling.   
  
"Jesus." Ena sighed. "Don't tell me your going after that one jerk ag-"  
  
Her sister's drastic change in expression cut her off. "Yes, I am Ena. This is how I bide my time now. Alright? If I can't go home I'm going to make sure other people like us are alive enough to make it to their homes. " Apparently Ena had said the wrong thing.  
  
At that Ena got up, annoyed. "Don't play the martyr here, you left home. Mom's worried sick and you won't even let me tell her you're ok. It's not my fault you decided to pick a fight with the demon world."  
  
There was very little light by the door to the office room, even though several windows had been propped open. But more than enough for each sister to see the dust floating in the air between them, wisping around their every movement.   
  
"You're right." She lowered her voice, "But I've dug my own hole, no reason to drag those nice people in with me. Now, did you bring it?"  
  
"You know everyone at school was asking about you today." Ena tried.  
  
"Is that so? Who?"  
  
She waited a beat to long, her sister could smell lies and half truths. " Well May-"  
  
"No, no she didn't. She's your friend, I've met her like once. I didn't have any friends at school Ena. Stop trying to get me to come back home, it just annoys me. And if we're done with that I'll ask you again, did you bring it?  
  
Ena paused. "Cadi... "  
  
"No Athena!" Given names were always a bad sign. " This guy I've been tracking, he looks like ... he looks like ..._ him._ "  
  
The inflection of her voice let Ena know who she was referring to. It was pointless, they might argue for hours, they may even fight, but Cadi had her ways. She would always win. As she reached for her bag, Ena could feel tears welling up behind her eyes. Rustling it open she dug to the bottom, underneath a few candy bars, and her history book she found what her sister requested. It was gun, too heavy for most people, and almost too big for her hand.  
  
"You be careful."   
  
Cadi anxiously swiped the gun away from her sister, with a terribly disconcerting smile on her face. "Yeah, yeah, I know, family heirloom, only gift from your mom, I know, I know. "  
  
Ena touched Cadi's arm, taking her focus away from the firearm. " No Cadi, I mean you. I saw your hand. I didn't think anything was fast enough to hurt you, and then you call me and tell me to bring this? I'm scared for you Cadi. You're the only family I have left!"  
  
The desperation was dripping from her sister's voice. Cadi was moderately touched. " I was careless, I mean jeeze, that's half the fun though, you know? Thrill of the fight and all that? Oh wait, I forgot, you don't like to fight, so no, you don't know. Ok, so what's the deal with magic gun here? Never runs out of bullets or something?"  
  
Ena blinked, she just couldn't make her sister listen anymore. It was like she was losing her, the only living link to her past. "Um, yeah." She choked out, " won't run out of ammo, the bullets pierce anything, it's been enchanted or something."  
  
"Well, that sounds positively neat." Cadi peered a bit closer at the gun, "Looks like me and.. 'Ebony and Ivory' are going to have a long night."  
  
"Don't get to attached, you still have give it back."   
  
Cadi looked at her sister quizzically, "Hey I didn't name it. I certainly didn't name it stupid mcstupid name."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Ena's voice was beginning to betray how exasperated she was.   
  
Cadi's eye's widened. "Right here, _'Ebony and Ivory_.' Already named. Oh! " she perked up, "Maybe this is just... Ebony.... and there's another one somewhere! Wouldn't that be sweet?"  
  
Ena grabbed her sister's hand, since she hadn't actually handed back the gun to let her look at it. And sure enough, right on the side it was printed. "_Ebony & Ivory'._  
  
"I guess I never looked at it really." That was a lie, she had held that gun ever since she found it.   
  
"Well whatever. See ya' Thena'." With that Ena watched her sister jump from the one of the building's ajar windows. She wasn't sure when it had started, but touching her cheek she realized she was crying. Her sister's life was a perpetual suicide mission. More importantly she wasn't sure how long she could keep caring if Cadi kept acting like that.   
  
Athena stared blankly out the window.  
  
"Be safe Arcadia." 


End file.
